This tv is about 10 years old I recall the sales people told me it was HD ready There is no reference in the book to "HD" anything What does HD ready mean IS it? if so how to utilize

No the fact that he didnt ask how old really isnt relevant. What happened when you said it went bad? I actually would be like your husband if it was working fine and he hooked it up and it fried it when he was there, I would also push for them to pay for repairs. Installers are not always the brightest guys in the world. I worked 13 years in electronics and cant tell you how many times I was in someones house to fix(not actual damage) things they hooked up wrong. Probably the truth is 10 years is a good run for a rear projection tv to go without needing something fixed.

Usually a color missing is a bent pin if you are using it as a PC monitor. Definately check your cables and see if the problems follows the input selections. If it does it most likely is a electronic component failure. Of course this assumes the settings aren't randomly messed up. You might be wanting to invite that guy that always has things taken apart when you visit...or start watching online sales...head's up on repair bills...a similar product costs $400 new, 300 refurbished.

If it is two-channel sound, the 'line' inputs should be color-coded as red (right) and white (left).

Radio shack wallmart all of those places sell the receiver

If your TV has component inputs, then any HDTV reciever box or cablebox will likely get you to HD. Some tvs with component will still not handle HD, only 480 or SD. In very rare cases, your manufacturer may have a box to upgrade your TV to hd internally, however they are rare and expensive.

The lamps can do many odd things when they are on the way out includung the picture coming on and then dissapearing for a while then coming back. The lamps adverage life is 2000 hours, and at 3-5 years it is on borrowed time.

if it was mislabeled at the time of sale then you can return the tv. 480p only allows progressive scan to be used. 720 is the min hd you can run.

http://www.dropcore.com/sharp/sharp.php

The same thing happened to me and Dell shipped me a new one. It happened about 12 days outside of my 1 year warranty. After many phone conversations with Dell, I finally got someone to replace it. They never told me what was wrong with the TV.